


Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 10 A Perfect Pairing

by Stardance1



Series: Under the Moons of Darillium: A Night of Adventures [10]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 07:35:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardance1/pseuds/Stardance1
Summary: River has gone back to the University to teach. What will the Doctor do to keep himself occupied and out of trouble? And when the University turns out to be more than lectures and tenured lunches, will River be able to handle this mystery on her own, or can the Doctor find her in time to help…?





	Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 10 A Perfect Pairing

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is Part 10 of a Series.

River opened her eyes and then, almost as quickly, slammed them shut again.  
It was time.  
Time to get out of bed, get ready, and go in to the University to teach her first class.  
Of all of these things she was perfectly aware.  
She was also perfectly aware that she’d negotiate away her hair, her clothes, and all of her worldly possessions for 15 more minutes in this bed.  
Seriously who could she strike a deal with.  
She poked her arm out from beneath the blanket and rolled to her right to switch off the alarm, set on her handheld computer. She succeeded in switching it off moments before a single note had played. 

As she pulled her arm back under the covers from the nightstand, she could feel that is was now covered in goose flesh. She shivered and hugged it to her chest as her mouth hummed a soft whimper. 

Really, she thought convincingly to herself, if she could just have 2 minutes to warm herself, she’d be ready to face the world. Whichever world. 

She licked her lips and took in a deep breath.  
Slowly, through pursed lips, she released the air.  
Like a stealth ninja with the reflexes of cat, she ever so gently enlaced herself to her sleeping husband.  
She laid her head on crux of his arm and slowly moved it to the top of his shoulder.  
She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin, rest her forehead on the moist softness of his neck so that she could feel the steady tapping of his arterial pulse against her skin.  
After a moment, his heartbeats increased to a bounding pulse and she smiled softly, knowing he was waking.  
With her fingers she brushed the feather soft waves of hair that fell onto his forehead.

River decided that his earlobe was already so close to her lips, and it looked so delectable.  
She licked it and then gently tugged on it with her lips.  
With another deep breath she stopped herself and made a convincing effort to get up, just as the Doctor rolled onto her in his sleep, further entangling their limbs.  
She sighed, if only she could extricate herself….  
But then again his neck was just right there…  
And his other earlobe was a tiny lick away….  
And suddenly her own mouth got the better of her.  
The Doctor opened one eye and looked at her. “I can’t decide if you're seducing me Professor Malone, or if you have some other devious plan?”  
With her mouth still suctioned against his earlobe, she ran her hand down his chest, across his abdomen, and even lower, until she found the answer she knew would be there.  
Boldly taking hold of his arousal she mumbled against his ear, “I think you have decided.”  
The Doctor half moaned half chortled as he swiftly pinned her down and rose up on top of her.  
He leaned his head down and very thoroughly kissed her.  
He pulled back after a few minutes, his eyebrows furled… “River, what song did you have set as your alarm this morning?”  
River raised her eyes in all seriousness to meet his. Without blinking, in a single motion she stretched out her arm and touched one button on her device. Music immediately began to emanate.  
“Diana Ross, Touch Me in the Morning.”  
“So, there’s no version where you made it out of bed on time?” he asked fully driving into her.  
She gasped, helplessly arching her back at least a foot off of the bed. “God, I hope not…” she responded, letting her head fall back as the Doctor proceeded to kiss her neck and return every tantalizing kiss to her earlobe.  
To chide her, he blew a small raspberry on her neck, his lips tickling her as they vibrated. In complete delight River was reduced to laughter, and a pink blush spread across her breasts and cheeks.  
“What are you thinking Professor Malone?” he asked softly.  
A small smile spread across her lips… she whispered back...“Whenever you’re near, I hear a symphony.”  
She wrapped her arms around the Doctor’s neck and held him to her as he made love to her to the rhythm of quite an extensive concert by the Supremes. And he very thoroughly worshiped her from head to, well every single one of her toes.  
And when she absolutely had no choice but to get up and get ready for class, she scooted away to the shower. Where he promptly gave chase and joined her there too.  
Well, he was a very useful scrubber after all.  
And so he made sure every spot was cleaned, and sealed with a kiss.  
______________ 

River got dressed in a charcoal grey pants suit. Her square cut camisole top was a coppery gold, and it shimmered under her 3/4 sleeve jacket. She wore an elaborate necklace of volcanic rock, that the Doctor had gotten for her on Sarn. The jacket buttoned firmly around her waist and flared out slightly, hugging the voluptuous curve of her back. 

As she walked into the kitchen for her morning cup of tea, the Doctor’s head tilted a full 90 degrees as she walked by. 

Good. That’s exactly the reaction that she wanted. 

The aroma of her perfume wafted behind her as she stopped to stir in the milk and sugar.  
She turned and shot him a dazzling smile and a wink.  
He was absolutely flummoxed. He stood behind the stove, oven mitts on each hand as he waited impatiently for the scones to come out of the oven.  
He pointed his mittened hand at her, his head shaking vigorously. “You are NOT going dressed like that!”  
She smirked and turned her whole body slowly and confidently around, her eyes never leaving his face until she moved her head around and met his gaze again. “Is there something wrong with my apparel?”  
The Doctor’s tongue clicked the corner of his mouth, and he momentarily scrunched up his nose. He shook his head again. “It’s too cold. You should wear your Zeeda dress, a nice thick bubble jacket, and some warm baggy pants. In fact I have just the sweat pants in mind.”  
River giggled into her tea, then raised her eyes in feigned shock. “A professor can’t show up dressed like a lazy Indiana Jones!”  
The Doctor’s eye’s narrowed, “Well can we avoid the professor showing up like Lara Croft Tomb Raider!”  
River smiled broadly, “You know that character was based on….” she paused because the Doctor’s nostrils had flared to a dangerously wide circumference, and his eyebrows nearly reached the ceiling… “a girl I knew in school… never liked her.” She shook her head softly as confirmation and slurped her tea. She walked over to the Doctor and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Well I must be off dear.”  
“Sit down, I’ve made blueberry scones.”  
“I don’t want to be late. Maybe I can take one with...”  
“I’m just taking them out of the oven. Have them while they are warm, and the Tardis and I will drop you off on campus.”  
It meant a lot to him she knew. So she walked over to the breakfast table and sat down. He placed the plate of scones in front of her and refilled her mug of tea. 

He walked away and came back with a sack brown lunch bag.  
“I’ve packed your lunch.” he said, placing it down in front of her.  
Her heart melted like the butter on this scone. “Sweetie, I’ll be gone four hours tops, I’ll be back in time for lunch."  
"Take it in case you need a snack.” he sighed and closed his eyes a moment, resigning himself to her first day. “I Love you."  
She grinned back, then placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "Quite right to… I love you too.”  
He scurried out of the room to dress and pilot the Tardis to River’s campus.  
River smiled as she sipped her tea.  
_____________________________ 

River stepped out of the Tardis, and into the great marbled main-entrance of the The College of Axiothea, one of the campuses of Darillium University, part of the Five Star Galactic Education Network initiative which covered both Andromeda and Mutter’s Spiral.  
The lofty halls of academia were always the same, River thought to herself, cold marble, vaulted ceilings, mosaic domes, and stained glass windows, but rarely did the students or the faculty see the cracks in the foundation, the automated robots that took your payment credits and rubber stamped your diploma.  
She could hear the click of her heals echo across the stone floor as she walked by the nameless statued busts of former students. At least some deserved to be there she reasoned, not all would have made "generous contributions" to the school funds.  
A static disruption made the 3D image of the busts waiver and River turn.  
Ah, she chuckled to herself, not busts, projections, updated nightly for the top donors she imagined.  
She turned the brass knob and walked into the Chancellor’s office.  
"Professor Malone, I presume?” the short, stout, balding man behind the desk inquired. His suit was distastefully flashy, a cobalt blue with a red pin stripe. He wore red shoes and looked more like a used car sales man than the Chancellor of a University.  
“Melody Malone,” River responded, extending her hand to shake his.  
“And you’ve been hired by the Archeology Department. I have received your CV and sample publications. Quite extensive and impressive for someone your age.”  
River smiled at the patronage. “Thank you.”  
“And you’ll have first pick of graduate students for teaching and research assistants.”  
“I travel with my own assistant.”  
“Well we have certain diversity requirements here at Darillium U.”  
“He’s a humanoid cyborg from Mendorax Dellora.”  
The Chancellor raised his eyebrows. “Perfect…. But why do you only want to teach part time. As a tenured member of the Five Star Galactic Education Network, you could have your pick of graduate courses to teach.”  
“I like to teach the younger students, it gives me an opportunity to help inform young minds, and it leaves me time to flex my research muscles.”  
“Ah yes, you are quite the adventurer! You’ve made amazing discoveries on other campus planets.”  
River nodded.  
“Well unfortunately it’s almost time for your class, so we’ll have to say goodbye.”  
River extended her hand to shake goodbye. “Yes, unfortunately.”  
“Some other time perhaps?”  
River smiled again tilting her head slightly, “Perhaps.” 

River collected her papers, a campus map, and the directions to her office and classroom.  
A visit to her office would have to wait, she thought, as she walked to the auditorium entrance and pulled out her handheld computer with the image and text slides for the projector.  
She could teach a basic Anthology class in her sleep. She wasn’t the least bit concerned as the sea of students began to walk into her classroom and sit down.  
Although she could barely see the ones in the top balcony of the atrium.  
This University sure believes in packing them in, she thought to herself.  
She served herself a glass of water at the podium and waited for the class to come in and settle.  
She wanted to be here, she loved to work and to be productive and she did to some degree enjoy being a professor.  
Not like the Doctor though.  
She was certain he’d make an amazing professor one day.  
But she’d been slightly less than honest with him about everything else.  
Yes, she wanted to do research on Darillium, that much was true….  
But River had seen that alien tech close up. She knew that heap in the ocean couldn’t be the only thing. This planet had a target on it.  
There wasn’t a doubt in her body.  
The Tardis could have blinked them away the second they crashed on Darillium. But she didn’t. The Tardis knew that River and the Doctor needed to be here.  
River just didn’t know why yet.  
And when the Doctor is in the room, you keep him alive, to save the planet.  
She wasn’t just a friend or a companion. She was his wife. She’d been on thousands of missions, across faces and times and space, she needed the resources at the University. She needed to put her research into action.  
Eventually, she’d hear about an artifact, like a puzzle piece that didn’t belong, and it would be a clue to lead her in the right direction.  
Where she could prepare to protect the Doctor.  
That was her job. 

River stood next to podium, and rested an elbow on it.  
She typed into her computer, and a bell dinged on her device and then reverberated through the auditorium.  
The room silenced and the students looked at their communicators.  
In a clear strong voice, River spoke out, her voice reaching every last student.  
“Welcome to ANT 104, Cultural Anthropology”.  
“You have just received your syllabus, read it on your own time and determine if this is the right class for you.”  
“You won’t need any text books, but you will need a brain, or two, depending on your species.”  
“I am Professor Melody Malone. Stick with me and travel back through time, transport yourself into different worlds and different cultures. Learn to observe aspects of our diversity and find in them the cultural universal constants that unite all of us. Distinguish those unique aspects that define each civilization in their moment of time….  
The Universe, is an amazing place, filled with language, and drawing, cultivation and writing, destruction and preservation, and together we will begin to explore the social structures, social constructs, and the innovation that has lead to social change. “ 

River clicked her casting program, and projected the first slide, an image from her own discoveries. The students gasped. And she smiled. 

"Let’s get started.” 

_____________________________ 

The Doctor had snuck into River’s class.  
He sat all the way in the back of the top balcony, so that he wouldn’t disturb her when he left.  
He loved to hear her lecture… to watch her inspire students.  
She’d always been this good, he mused in awe, thinking back to her early years on Luna U.  
But today he couldn’t stay too long.  
He was a man on a mission.  
It was a critical mission.  
One of the most important missions of his life, especially his future life.  
He was going to get Ramone a new wife. 

The Doctor landed the Tardis at Alphonse’s and bounced into the main dining room.  
There the tables had been set in a circle with one person seated permanently at each table, and a large boisterous group of rotating individuals taking turns meeting everyone.  
A bell rang, like the bell at a boxing match.  
The Doctor found Ramone’s table and pulled a chair up along side him.  
A ditzy retro-pop rocker plopped down in front of the Doctor’s seat, before he could protest.  
She had neon fishnet stockings and high heeled boots, an off the shoulder glitter jumper and really shocking makeup.  
In fact the Doctor was trying to discern what color she might actually be, since her skin was sprayed to match her rainbow crimped and dyed hair.  
“I’m from Alpha Tubular.” she said  
No real shocker there, thought the Doctor.  
“Soooo…. what do you do…” she asked the Doctor, winking at him in the process.  
Or having some kind of spasm.  
He couldn’t be sure.  
"I am a Lord over all time and space."  
"Sounds kinky."  
"And I’m married!” the Doctor fished out his Sonic, and aimed it at the bell, compelling it to ring. “NEXT!” he shouted. 

The Doctor leaned over to Ramone.  
"I can’t believe that after thousands of years of evolution and progress, no one has been able to figure out a more productive or reliable method of finding a significant other than a 5 minute chat across a restaurant.” 

Ramone turned to face him, annoyed that he hadn’t even gotten 5 minutes with the last date.  
"Well how did you meet the Professor?"  
The Doctor’s eyebrows raised and he blushed slightly before turning to face his interrogator.  
"Um, well, I was an old family friend.”  
“And...Do you have any friends that you could introduce me to?”  
The Doctor contemplated, tapping his index finger on his chin….  
Perhaps he could….  
“Say Ramone, did River ever introduce you to the last human known as Cassandra? She’s a cyborg like you, she’s sort of body-less like you, and I’m sure you have other things in common... She loves beauty products!”  
Ramone rolled his eyes at the Doctor, “Pass.”  
“Looking for more substance, eh, can’t blame you.” the Doctor stood up and turned his chair to face Ramone, to the protestation of the two ignored “dates” on the other side of the table.  
“Move along, he’s coming home with me!” the Doctor said to them, evoking a loud groan from Ramone.  
The Doctor continued, “Okay how about the Face of Boe? He’s literally my oldest friend, and he’s very deep, doesn’t speak much, but boy has he been across the Universe.”  
“Nope.” said Ramone.  
The Doctor sighed, too bad he couldn’t introduce him to Captain Jack.  
There wasn’t a person alive, or recently dead, he couldn’t manage chemistry with…  
The Doctor turned to Ramone. "Why don’t we go back to the Tardis, and we’ll work on your image. Maybe look through the wardrobe, find some things to make the best you shine.”  
Ramone sighed, he wouldn’t be able to shake the Doctor off anyway, best to let him have his way and go along with it. “Sure, let’s go.” 

The Doctor and Ramone got in the Tardis and the Doctor piloted it back to the University, so River could pop in whenever she needed to. 

The Doctor sat Ramone down at the kitchen table and made him some tea.  
“To really find somebody, you’ve got to be suave. You’ve got to be cool.  
Musicians are cool. River loves it when I…” Okay he hadn’t meant to bring up River, " I mean, women go wild when they see you play instruments.” 

River ran into the Tardis, and then stopped as if taken aback by the situation.  
She looked from Ramone to the Doctor, and back to Ramone, and then tried to conceal her knowing grin behind some paperwork.  
She knew this was coming.  
“Sweetie, I’m sorry, I need to borrow the body and Nardole.”  
The Doctor came over and kissed her on cheek.  
“No problem!” then he whispered, "I think it might actually make it easier for me to find someone for Ramone that way. What do you think about Dorium, or one of the headless monks?”  
She kissed him on the lips. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. But I’ve got to run!”  
She turned to Ramone. “Nardole! Let’s go!”  
From inside Ramone’s metal body, clanked out, a tin voice, “Yes Professor!”  
Ramone’s hand rose mechanically and twisted off his head, laying it with a thud onto the kitchen table.  
In its place, Nardole’s head arose from the cavernous chest, and he stood up and followed River to the door. 

The Doctor waved to River then ran into their bedroom and brought out an electric guitar.  
“Here’s your answer", the Doctor said to Ramone’s head.  
"How am I going to play without hands?”  
The Doctor looked disapprovingly at Ramone, "Jimmy Hendrix played with his teeth.”  
"Have you got anything else?”  
The Doctor snapped his fingers and then rummaged through some storage drawers on the sides of the Console Room. It took a minute because of course the Tardis drawers are bigger on the inside.  
He returned to Ramone with a harmonica and a neck holder. He put it over Ramone’s head and began to snap out a beat. "1, 2, 3 and… “ Ramone’s head screeched like a group of cats yowling in heat.  
There wasn’t even a sign of a basic melody, just one long note followed by quick inwards breaths that created additional shrieks.  
The Doctor took a step back, eyebrows furrowing, he put his hands up, and yelped in victory.  
“Perfection!" he finally said to Ramone with a smile. 

__________________________ 

River lead Nardole to her office.  
It was a relatively large room, maybe 20 by 30 feet, painted in cheerful shades of monochromatic tan.  
Of course it was new, so it was mostly empty, save for some empty book cases, a desk and chairs, and a small sitting area with a tea service on a rustic trunk coffee table.  
River sat on the floor amidst a pile of papers and turned to Nardole, instructing him to sit down.  
“Listen, I taught my first class today, and I noticed some strange things with the student body here. I started to look back through their records, and it looks like different well-balanced youth all go off the deep end a few semesters in.”  
“There’s nothing shocking there Professor! Loads of people drop off due to financial challenges or just losing interest in school.”  
“I know Nardole, but not these people. Look I’ve gone through their records, and collections of their work. They all seem to have excelled until they each were hired for a student job at a Darillium Company, and suddenly they miss classes, and those few that do come back, their work seems mechanic, lifeless.”  
Nardole examines the files and papers. “There are four people who missed your class today Professor.”  
“I know,” River said beeping through some data on her computer, “and all four had appointments at Darillium’s Juggernaut Incorporated.”  
“Um.”  
“And we’ve got to go down there. We’ve got a few hours before the normal shift is up, let’s meet there and investigate.”  
“Will you bring the Doctor at least?” Nardole’s teeth chattered nervously.  
“I don’t want to waste his time. If he’s not busy. We’ll see. Otherwise, after we find the problem we can call him if we need him.” River kissed his shiny bald head and ran back into the the Tardis.  
Nardole smiled slightly reassured, and picked up Ramone from the Tardis, flying them both off to Alphonse’s for an afternoon reprieve. 

__________________ 

River ate a sandwich at the table while doing research on her computer.  
She dipped some chips in tomato ketchup and took notes on some office scrap paper.  
The Doctor brought over his cup of coffee and sat down next to her.  
“How’d your day go?” he asked.  
She looked up and smiled at him, “Good! And you?”  
“Not too much luck on the Ramone front. One three headed siren was quite mean to him as I got there, and she didn’t even realize yet about the no body thing…”  
“That’s too bad, you’ll get them next time.” River looked up and gave him one of her signature dazzling smiles. She offered him up a chip, doused in tomato ketchup.  
He took it happily.  
“River,” the Doctor asked, munching on his chip, "why did you go out with him?"  
River typed away on her computer, then paused to consider. She shrugged her shoulders and continued typing while she spoke. "I don’t know, he was pretty… interesting… pretty interesting, great back story.”  
The Doctor frowned at her.  
"Ok, okay” she continued, "I needed his input for a case, he seemed useful at time, and well he was a descent man-etary, except he’s terrible at tech, but answering phones and taking messages, he’s top drawer. I promise you he was never dissatisfied with his…er… position."  
"Why did you marry him then?”  
"It was a case on a casino asteroid. If I didn’t marry him I’d have to join the Sultan’s haram, and he had just one too many tentacles on of his face to be appealing. I erased Ramone's memory of it as soon as we got back to his home world.”  
The Doctor had been scribbling on one of her scrap bits of paper.  
"What do you think of this River,… 'Compact diamond in the rough. Good to travel off world. Require almost no space. Handsome face and pleasing demeanor. Enjoy the simple, basic things in life. Can type at least 40 WPM. References available upon request.”  
"Can he still type though?"  
"I tested him with a pencil in his mouth."  
They grinned at each other. River responded, with a shrug of her shoulder, "Sounds great. That might actually be a better than his typing speed when he had hands.”  
River jumped up."I have to build something from scraps in the storage room.”  
The Doctor stood up next to her and offered his arm. “I have to find something in the storage room too. Perhaps I can accompany you.”  
River laced her arm through his. “Always and completely.”  
He leaned over and she raised her chin to kiss him, but instead he just bopped her nose with her free hand.  
“You tease!” she chided.  
“But you love it though,” he said laughing, this time leaning all the way forward and kissing her as they walked the corridors of the Tardis, towards the storage room. 

_________________________ 

The Doctor and River both rummaged through the storage room.  
The Doctor was looking for an old lucky hat.  
He thought it might help Ramone with his dating escapades.  
It was an old, brown, wide brimmed trilby hat which he had made modifications to ages ago.  
It had all kinds of gadgets built in, and Ramone would be able to do everything from shuffle cards to light a lady’s cigarette with it. 

River was trying to design a cyborg detector. She had gathered pieces of random tech and gadgets and was soldering on the floor near where the Doctor searched.  
He couldn’t help distractedly looking over and smiling at her as she worked.  
She was more than his equal and he just adored having her there.  
Seriously, her very presence brought him joy.  
If only they could find a way for this to go on forever.  
She deserved that. She deserved forever. 

She looked up and caught him watching her, and asked for his advice on her gizmo.  
He sat down and held pieces together for her as she explained her design plan.  
They talked and shared memories, laughing about their day. 

She chided him again about feeling jealous over Ramone, and he agreed that it was ridiculous.  
Because he didn’t doubt her. Not for a second.  
The truth was he felt guilty for taking River from anyone, and eternally grateful that he had her back.  
For however long they had. 

While the Doctor is rummaging through boxes, he turns the music on in the room.  
The Pina Colada song starts to play and the Doctor begins to sing, all the while dancing ridiculously toward River.  
“Oh it’s you” he emphasizes comically, “I never knew…. That you liked Pina Coladas, and walks in the rain.”  
River laughs helplessly at the display then shoots him an annoyed look.  
"You KNOW that I hate this song."  
But he ignores her and keeps right on bogeying over to her, swaying his hips like Elvis Presley.  
He stands her up, twirls and dips her.  
“You know I taught Elivis how to move his hips like this…”  
She laughs again and starts to dance and sing along. 

When they finally got back to work, and finish River’s gadget, she throws her arms happily around him in celebration.  
He holds her for a moment, taking it all in, and then he just can’t help but gather her up and make love to her right there on the storage room floor.  
When they laid down, exhausted together, in each other’s arms, he falls asleep for a moment, and when his eyes finally fluttered open thirty minutes later, he sees that River has taken her gadget with her and left.  
But in her place, she’d left a box with a note.  
He picks it up and begins to read it, doubling over in laughter.  
In it River confesses that she had always known where his gizmo hat was stored.  
She’d just wanted to spend some time together.  
What tickled him wasn’t her confession though. It was the fact that he could have finished her gizmo in half the time with a lot less soldering.  
He’d just been having too much fun to tell her. 

She ended the note with XOXO, and post script.  
She was taking Nardole to Juggernaut Incorporated in search of some missing students. 

He tilted his head perplexed.  
That name didn’t settle well.  
He stood up and strode to Console Room, ready to find River, and back her up.  
_____________________________ 

Professor Melody Malone walked into Juggernaut Incorporated, a fedora on her head, and a long trench coat in her arms.  
The building was dark, as she and Nardole had waited for the end of shift to make their entrance.  
They’d snuck in through a side gate, but a guard tried to apprehend them.  
River threw her trench coat over his head and slammed him into a wall.  
As he slumped down she said, “Hold that for me would you?” 

She and Nardole crept forward.  
Another guard came at her from the shadows, this one she quickly subdued with a subtle Venusian aikido move that the Doctor had taught her. He crumpled to the floor.  
“Oh dear, is it just a spine you’re lacking, or is even more missing down below?” 

They walked forward, finally arriving at a main corridor of offices. There, to River’s surprise, it wasn't a cyborg or a guard that emerged.  
Instead, out rolled a Dalak.  
He was large and charcoal black, and in the darkness his eyestalk glowed a surreal blue.  
River and Nardole put their hands up in the air.  
“Is that an eyestalk, or are you just happy to see me?” River asked coyly. 

“I have just come from the prisoners. How have you escaped.” 

“We didn’t escape, your prisoners are my students and I want them back.”  
“Negative. We are enhancing your students. Improving their minds.”  
“What have you done to them.”  
“Their DNA is implanted into mechanoid shells. They have become cyborgs, devoting their life energy to the service of Dalek kind and Davros!”  
“You’re wrong, we will defeat you and release your prisoners from this service.”  
“You are a threat to Dalek kind! You will be annihilated. You will be exterminated!” 

“Oh I don’t think so!” the Doctor said, emerging from the shadows.  
River and Nardole put down their hands.  
“Right on time Sweetie, and not a moment too soon, I was all out of cheeky quips.” 

“Who are you!” demanded the deadly metallic cone.  
“Me, why I’m the …. “  
“Dancer! He’s a tiny dancer in the dark, and I’m Professor Melody Malone, and together we will release your prisoners and shut down this corporation of deceit!” 

The Doctor shot River an amused look. She and Nardole ran over to him.  
“Just shut up!” she said.  
“Never mind that, hold my hand and run!” 

The Doctor and River and Nardole ran down a long corridor, when they reached the end and turned, they were suddenly in a small hallway full of mirrors.  
The Doctor pulled River’s hand and placed her in a special corner.  
“This is my plan. Trust me. Don’t turn around until I say!” the Doctor whispered.  
She nodded.  
The Dalek rolled down the hallway, and saw River, her back turned to him.  
“So slow and so fragile! Face me Melody Malone, it is time for me to exterminate you. All hail the Dalek race!”  
River slowly turned around and faced his eye stalk. “Whatever you say.”  
The Dalek blasted at her with full force, only to have the charge from his weapon bounce back off the mirror and strike him down.  
He burst into flames, and River and the Doctor ran, back up the corridors with Nardole following not so closely behind. 

They found the students, in a sort of frozen stupor in the basement of the building. They released them, there were at least a hundred, and they thanked River and the Doctor and Nardole profusely. 

River used her cyborg gizmo to analyze the bodies of the student doppelgängers. They were disabled and harmless now that the students were freed and she and the Doctor could further analyze their purpose from the data she collected.  
The Doctor gathered files from the office, and determined that no other Dalek was stationed on Darillium at the moment. 

But more would need to be understood about the Dalek’s purpose here before they could really consider this threat closed. 

They dropped Nardole off at Alphonse's, and went back to River’s office to collect her paperwork. 

_____________________________ 

The Doctor parked the Tardis in the corner of her office. 

He walked out and sat down on the sofa in her seating area.  
He set the water pot to boil and readied the tea service. 

River walked around picking up papers, organizing them, and adding files that she and the Doctor had recovered from Juggernaut Incorporated offices.  
She placed the big stack on the coffee table and sat down next to the Doctor. 

She took in a deep breath. And slowly released it.  
She was ready for the lecture that was coming. 

“River, why did I have to rescue you from a Dalek tonight?” the Doctor asked as he handed her a cup of tea in a saucer.  
She took a slow slip, then looked up at him.  
She met his solemn gaze, and her long lashes slowly batted at him. “In all fairness Sweetie, I thought they were just cyborgs, I had no idea that a Dalek was involved!”  
“And do you know how I did?”  
River shook her head, mumbling something as she sipped from the cup.  
The Doctor responded, “I’ve met another version of the Juggernaut’s before. I knew they were made by Daleks, and furthermore, you’re lucky I spied those mirrors in the storage room today. They’ve helped me out of a scrape with the Dalek’s before.”  
“Well they’re very useful.”  
“River, I don’t like seeing you shot at, even for pretend.”  
She nodded. “I didn’t mean to put anyone, including myself, in danger.  
I was just wound up in this Professor bit, and I didn’t want to bring any more trouble to your door if I didn’t have to.” 

The Doctor pulled her close. Her emptied tea cup fell unscathed to the floor.  
“You’re not trouble to me.”  
She nodded, bitting her lip softly.  
“River the Daleks, they’re the worst sorts of….”  
His voice trailed off, and River suddenly remembered seeing him, another him, shot by a Dalek. She remembered how she’d felt. How she’d shot that Dalek down and still thought she’d lost him. Her world had imploded in on itself.  
She swallowed harshly and covered her face with her hands. The Doctor also awash in memories of all that he’d previously lost to the Daleks. 

The Doctor laid back onto the sofa with her in his arms.  
River could tell from the raggedness of his breath that he was struggling to control his emotions.  
“Really I didn’t mean to do this.” she said softly, apologetically. “I promise, any other mystery I uncover while we’re together here, we’ll handle it together.”  
But he didn’t, couldn’t respond.  
He was crushing her to him, trying to fuse them together, running his hands forcefully through her hair and her scalp. 

River could barely take a breath, but she needed this, she wanted it, to be wanted and needed like this, by him, right now.  
The whole of the scene washed over her, and she realized how badly it could have ended.  
It had just been an amusing adventure.  
Until it wasn’t. 

She closed her eyes and surrendered to the feeling of the Doctor, stroking her face, tugging on her shirt so that he could place his burning lips over her neck and her breasts.  
He stopped to speak to her, but could barely put the words together.  
“River, do you want to go in… back to our room… in the Tardis.”  
She shook her head vehemently. Pulling herself down, closer to him.  
“No.” she answered. “Let it be here… now.” 

He rolled on top of her, picked up her legs by her ankles and the watched the fabric of her dress cascaded around her to her waist. 

He groaned, holding her legs over his shoulders and pulling her toward him to kiss her.  
Then he lost any semblance of control. He thrust into her madly, pushing in and out of her each time more and more deeply until she writhed and screamed but still couldn’t move a muscle beyond his grip. 

Finally when they were both satisfied, they curled up together on the sofa and he stroked her hair once more.  
“River?”  
“Mmm hmmm?”  
“When do the office cleaners come through here…”  
The door knob jingled.  
The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and delayed the lock by a moment so they could grab all of their clothes and run into the Tardis. 

They shut the door behind them and burst into laughter. 

The Doctor went to the kitchen, and River went to her wardrobe to change.  
While she was there, the Doctor messaged her computer - "Be ready for round two later.”  
She smiled and texted back, "Can’t wait - should I pick up dinner?”  
"It’s in the slow cooker. We have hours."  
"I’ll bring desert."  
"You are desert."  
River laughed then typed furiously into her screen, "Then I’ll bring the whipped cream and cherries.”  
“Game set and match.”  
River smiled to herself, because they were a match. They we a perfect pair. 

After dinner, and desert, they get into bed.  
“By the way River, why am I your tiny dancer?”  
River burst into peels of laughter, “I didn’t want the Daleks to know that you were on Darillium.”  
He kissed her forehead. It was a good thought at least. Probably pointless.  
He and River didn’t do well in covert shadows. 

They stayed up talking for hours. So long that River would only have a few hours of sleep before her next class. The Doctor tells her more bits of his adventures in speed dating. Then he tells her that he saw her class intro, and how amazing she is and has always been.  
She encourages him again to be a professor with her, but he shakes his head with a laugh.  
Then he rolls over to face her and confides that when he gets older he’d like to be a curator in an art gallery or a museum. She nods and tells him to try to be a docent now in the Darillium museum.  
That she believes in him.  
They go on sharing dreams and far off plans neither of them knows if they can, or ever will, come to pass.  
But that doesn’t matter.  
Archeology, writing, rock and roll, and a thousand more possibilities.  
River finally falls asleep while the Doctor was excitedly agreeing with her plans, building on them.  
He kisses her gently and falls asleep beside her.  
And both of their dreams mingle into a future they can both hope to share.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Look for more Doctor and River Song stories, every week! Next week: Part 11 - Haunted Hallways!


End file.
